Locking safety pins of general background are described and illustrated in Petti U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,796 issued Nov. 4, 1969; Petti U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,251 issued July 5, 1949; Wagner U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,076 issued Mar. 16, 1971; Wagner U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,429 issued Aug. 30, 1977 and Canadian Patent No. 694,729 of Stanton issued Sept. 22, 1964. These safety pins generally require the pin to be removed from a casing in which it is normally housed, by relative rotation of the pin with respect to such housing so that the pin can clear overlapping, sides of the housing.
Miniature clasps have been developed, for example, in the jewelry field, to lock miniature chains of jewelry in position around a person's neck. Such clasps are in the form of a tubular body extending in circular fashion in a plane between opposed, spaced ends, the ends forming a tiny gap through which a link of the chain can extend. An elongated tongue, curved in conformity with the tubular body, is slidably mounted within the tubular body to move between closed position extending across the gap from one end of the body to other and open position in which the tongue is withdrawn into said one end of the body. A biasing means, for example a spring, is housed within the body and extends between a plug means secured in the tube and an end of the tongue to which it is secured, to urge the tongue towards and maintain it in closed position. An actuation means, such as an outwardly extending post is secured to the tongue and extends to the exterior of the body. That post is relatively movable with respect to the body under action of one's finger so that the tongue may be moved against the urging of the biasing means from closed to open position. A slot is provided in the body to receive and guide a portion of the post during movement. The clasp of this type is normally secured to one end of a jewelry chain and releasably receives, through the gap, a link at the other end of the chain when the tongue has been moved to open position.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative construction of a safety pin which permits a variety of alternative uses thereof. It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a self-locking safety pin.